In 1911, former President Theodore Roosevelt became the first in a long line of distinguished speakers to appear at The Commonwealth Club.

More than 100 years later, how does the San Francisco-based club continue its tradition of hosting the best and brightest to discuss matters of pressing public concern?

By welcoming Kim Kardashian West. She’ll be at Oakland’s Paramount Theatre on June 30 to chat about her new book of selfies, amusingly titled “Selfish.”

OK, everyone take a breath, because yes, you read that right. Kardashian, the tabloid regular and high priestess of shameless self-promotion, is coming to Oakland to speak in the kind of public forum typically associated with heads of state, captains of industry and visionaries in science, arts and humanitarian causes.

She’ll talk about things she knows best: herself, of course, as well as social media stardom, sexuality in the media, and the business of becoming incredibly famous in the 21st century.

And, as hard as it is for many to believe, her appearance at a Commonwealth Club event actually makes some sense — that is, if you’ve been following Kardashian’s stratospheric rise to global fame and wealth over the past decade.

After all, the 34-year-old mother and entrepreneur has more than 32 million Twitter followers. OK, that’s not as many as Barack Obama but more than other Commonwealth-worthy speakers, such as Oprah Winfrey or Bill Gates.

Meanwhile, with rapper husband Kanye West, she is one-half of the #WorldsMostTalkedAboutCouple. They each made Time magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in 2015.

But 10 years ago, who had ever heard of her? In the early 2000s, she was minimally known as one of the three socialite daughters of the late O.J. Simpson attorney Robert Kardashian. Soon, Kardashian began showing up in the tabloids as Paris Hilton’s sidekick. But it wasn’t long before Kardashian made a name for herself with — what else? — a sex tape!

With her mother and sisters, she parlayed the sex tape notoriety into a reality TV show empire that has lasted 10 seasons, expanded into fashion lines, gaming apps and a hard-to-deny genius at self-promotion in the social media age.

Still, as much as she’s been one of the Earth’s most photographed women, she’s also been one of the most mocked.

Where do you start? There was her over-the-top televised 2011 wedding and 72-day marriage to basketball star Kris Humphries, which many suspected was a publicity stunt for “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.” There has also been the steady stream of often inane and self-indulgent tweets and Instagram posts that revolve around her makeup, her breasts, her ample booty, her favorite designer clothes, her great-looking sisters, her fabulous life.

Still, the Kim Kardashian who graces the Paramount stage may be a new and improved Kim 2.0 who has defied F. Scott Fitzgerald’s dictum that there are no second acts in American lives.

Somehow, in the endless spew of Kardashian-related headlines — Scott Disick’s latest rehab stint or Kylie Jenner admitting she artificially plumps her lips — the singularly self-possessed Kim Kardashian has made some savvy PR moves that make it plausible for her to headline a Commonwealth Club-sponsored event.

Consider the coverage that accompanied her family’s recent visit to her father’s ancestral homeland, Armenia. She gained more headlines than Pope Francis in calling attention to the Armenian genocide of 1915 under the Ottoman Empire. When was the last time a worldwide audience paid attention to this 100-year-old humanitarian tragedy?

And through “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” and her own media comments, Kardashian also gained respect as a champion of transgender rights with her unwavering support for Caitlyn Jenner. In fact, the family surprised many with their two-part special about her stepfather Bruce Jenner’s culturally transformative coming out as a transgender woman. Instead of sensationalizing Jenner’s physical and emotional journey, the family came across as handing it with honesty, humor, sensitivity and compassion.

Some say her May 2014 marriage to rap star West, with whom she is expecting her second child, eased her way into pop culture’s inner sanctum. One crowning glory of her West association was a long-sought-after — and perhaps heavily lobbied — Vogue magazine cover.

Still, the mocking continued, notably when Kardashian proclaimed her derriere a work of art after it appeared glamorously exposed on the “#BreakTheInternet” cover of Paper magazine in November.

But Kardashian wasn’t off-base in seeking the “artist” designation. Amazingly, she’s now getting it from a handful of writers and critics who are riveted by “Selfish.” The coffee table book consists of 445 pages of Kardashian selfies arranged chronologically over the past three decades. There’s little else — as in text or intelligent commentary.

But that’s apparently OK with the so-called arbiters of good taste.

“You win, Kim Kardashian,” The Atlantic declared.

Slate senior editor Laura Bennett called “Selfish” “an insane project, a document of mind-blowing vanity and deranged perseverance.” Yet Bennett said she couldn’t recommend it enough: —‰’Selfish’ comes to feel almost like a modern parable for the anyone-can-be-famous age.”

Poet and critic Sam Riviere went further in an essay in The Telegraph. He hailed Kardashian as a feminist artist who belongs alongside the Brontes, Jane Austen and Virginia Woolf. He pointed out that, throughout the history of Western art, men have controlled how women are represented in painting, literature, photography and film. Kardashian is upending those conventions, Riviere said: “Kardashian’s genuine achievement may be that she has become a singularly successful producer and owner of her own image and her image alone.”

It’s doubtful that Kardashian, in her Commonwealth Club talk, will toss around art theory terms like “male gaze,” but maybe she’ll get a little bit deep and share her hopes that she’ll age gracefully, as she pointed out in her recently released “letter to her future self.”

Among her dreams for her 44-year-old self in 2025? “We both know that there are always so many haters out there, and I just hope that you continue to ignore them and focus on everything positive.”

Martha Ross is a features writer who covers everything and anything related to popular culture, society, health, women’s issues and families. A native of the East Bay and a graduate of Northwestern University and Mills College, she’s also a former hard-news and investigative reporter, covering crime and local politics.

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